The Justice Department said Monday morning it has cleared networking giant Cisco Systems Inc.’s bid to acquire video conferencing provider Tandberg ASA. In a statement, the agency emphasized it had “cooperated closely” with its European counterparts in reviewing the deal, a sign of a smoother relationship between Brussels and Washington D.C., after the two agencies clashed on a similar deal earlier this year.
Cisco, Tandberg, and other industry participants signed waivers for the Antitrust Division and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition to share information and coordinate on potential remedies to ensure interoperability between Cisco’s new teleconferencing products and those of other companies. The Justice Department said it had taken those commitments into account, along with other factors, in reaching its determination not to challenge the deal.
“This investigation was a model of international cooperation,” Antitrust chief Christine Varney said in a statement. “The parties should be commended for making every effort to facilitate the close working relationship between the Department of Justice and the European Commission.”
The two agencies clashed last year in reviewing database software provider Oracle Corp.’s $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems Inc. The Justice Department OK’d the deal last summer, but European Union officials issued a set of objections to the sale in early November.
The DOJ responded to those objections by saying the sale did not raise major anti-competitive concerns and nudged the E.U. to clear the transaction. Brussels responded with visible annoyance, but eventually cleared the deal.
Then in November, the Justice Department hired E.U. antitrust expert Rachel Brandenburger as a new adviser on international matters. A better working relationship between the two agencies seemed to follow. When the DOJ signed off on Microsoft Corp.’s advertising pact with Yahoo! Inc. in February, for example, it waited until European regulators had announced a decision.
On the Cisco deal, the DOJ said it was satisfied with the commitments the company made to Brussels. Cisco promised that its teleconferencing products could operate with products from other companies. Cisco had already entered the videoconferencing business when it announced its $3 billion purchase of the Norwegian company last October. The E.U. announced its decision earlier today.
“The commitments are designed to foster the development of open operating standards,” the DOJ said in its statement. “The department views those commitments as a positive development that likely will enhance competition among producers of telepresence systems.”
Cisco could not immediately be reached for comment on how the trans-oceanic review was handled.
